[edit ] History

Cuba has long been a popular attraction for tourists. Between 1915 and 1930, Havana hosted more tourists than any other location in the Caribbean.<ref name=”Miguel”> International Tourism and the Formation of Productive Clusters in the Cuban Economy Miguel Alejandro Figueras </ref> The influx was due in large part to Cuba’s proximity to the United States. where restrictive prohibition on alcohol and other pastimes stood in stark contrast to the island’s traditionally relaxed attitude to leisure pursuits. Such tourism became Cuba’s third largest source of foreign currency, behind the two dominant industries of sugar and tobacco.

A combination of the Great Depression of the 1930s, the end of prohibition, and the second world war severely dampened Cuba’s tourist industry, and it wasn’t until the 1950s that numbers began to return to the island in any significant force. During this period American organized crime came to dominate the leisure and tourist industries, a modus operandi outlined at the infamous Havana Conference of 1946. By the mid-1950s Havana became one of the main markets and the favourite route for the narcotics trade to the United States. Despite this, tourist numbers grew steadily at a rate of 8% a year and Havana became known as “the Latin Las Vegas “. <ref name=”Miguel”/><ref> History of Cuba written and compiled by J. A. Sierra </ref>

Hotel Nacional in Havana. The hotel’s guestlist includes Frank Sinatra. Winston Churchill and Ernest Hemmingway. and also played host to the infamous Havana Conference in 1946

Immediately upon becoming President of Cuba after the Cuban revolution of 1959, Manuel Urrutia ordered the closing of many bars and gambling halls associated with prostitution and the drug trade, thus effectively ending Cuba’s image as a hedonistic escape. A new governmental body, the National Institute of the Tourism Industry (INTUR), was established to encourage more tourism; taking over hotels, clubs, and beaches making them available to the general public at low rates. Tourist board chief Carlos Almonia announced a program of huge investment in hotels and the creation of a new airport. But fears of Cuba’s post-revolutionary status amongst Americans, who constituted 8 out of 10 of visitors,<ref name=”Miguel”/> meant a rapid decrease in travel to the island.

In January 1961, as relations between the nations soured, tourism travel to Cuba was declared by the U. S. State Department to be contrary to U. S. foreign policy and against the national interest. Tourism that year dropped to a record low of a mere 4180, forcing a dramatic downsizing of Cuba’s tourist plans.<ref>Revolution to revolution: why is tourism booming in Cuba? Chandana Jayawardena </ref> Visitors to Cuba during the 1960s, 70s and 80s were comparatively rare. The number of tourists to the island did increase slowly, but it wasn’t until 1989 that they were to equal pre-Revolutionary numbers.<ref name=”Miguel”/>

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 caused a crisis in the Cuban economy. The Soviets were Cuba’s chief trading partner, and had effectively sheltered Cuba’s sugar industry with large subsidies for 30 years. The lack of economic diversification during this period, and the sudden loss of key markets sent the country into a deep economic depression known in Cuba as the Special Period. The crisis precipitated an urgent need to find new avenues of national income.

Policies were drawn up to satisfy the growing tourist markets of Canada and Europe with an aim to replace Cuba’s reliance on the sugar industry and gain much need foreign currency rapidly. A new Ministry of Tourism was created in 1994, and the Cuban state invested heavily in tourist facilities. Between 1990 and 2000, more than $3.5 billion was invested in the tourist industry. The number of rooms available to international tourists grew from 12,000 to 35,000,<ref name=”Rockefeller”>Tourism Development for the Cuban Economy. Rockefeller center online.</ref> and the country received a total of 10 million visitors over that period.<ref name=”Miguel”/> By 1995 the industry had surpassed sugar as Cuba’s chief earner.